Diagnosis - Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses

Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses

Diagnosis

In DSM-IV, criterion A of schizophrenia includes delusions, hal-lucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic be-havior and negative symptoms. Two or more of these symptoms are required during the active phase of the illness. However, if the patient describes bizarre delusions or auditory hallucinations con-sisting of a voice commenting on the patient’s behavior or voices conversing, only one of these symptoms is required to reach the diagnosis. It is important to distinguish negative symptoms, which are often difficult to appreciate, from the myriad factors that may contribute to the severity and serious morbidity associ-ated with schizophrenia. Patients who are not motivated to attend to their personal hygiene or suffer from alogia and a flattened af-fect are sadly at a disadvantage in society. The addition of nega-tive symptoms as a separate criterion in DSM-IV recognizes the prominence of these symptoms in patients with schizophrenia